Fledgling
by x Bout as Stable as the Wind x
Summary: [oneshot based off "Flying with An Angel"] In the wake of discovering her Master's childhood secret, Ahsoka takes Anakin on a short meditators' retreat to try and heal his reopened wounds. And nothing heals like spreading your wings to fly.


**A/N: just a rambling based off brooklynturtle's "Flying with An Angel" story where Anakin is half human, half diothamir (those angels from Iego).**

* * *

She could count every scar from this position, across the room from Anakin Skywalker's sleeping form; at least, all the marks that were exposed by the short sleeves and drooping neckline of the night shirt he wore. The newest ones, the angry red lines from the hunters' _instruments_ , were visible as well; and she subconsciously twisted her fists into her bed sheets upon the sight.

 _"_ _Master!"_

 _"_ _Ahsoka, run! Get out of here, RUN!"_

 _"_ _I am_ not _just going to_ leave _you here!"_

 _"_ _I'll cover you! Make for that exit over there! You can make it, but you have to go_ now _, Ahsoka!"_

 _"_ _Master…!"_

 _"_ _It's not you that they're after; it's ME! So I'll distract them, and you will RUN!"_

Shivering as the cold night air struck her open skin, Ahsoka Tano slipped out from under the thin covers that Temple-issued beds used, and wandered across the room. And this did _not_ feel totally like stalking, staring at the young General Skywalker while he slept, standing over him in the middle of the night. But she was supposed to watch over her Master, right? After all, hadn't that been the silent vow she'd taken when she'd first become apprentice to the Chosen One. And hadn't she restated that same vow, only slightly altered, when she'd learned his secret a few days before?

 _"_ _ANAKIN!"_

 _"_ _Ahsoka, I've got this!"_

 _"_ _Look out!"_

She could remember the whips and the guns and the vile tools/weapons the hunters had used on them as they were chased down the alleyways of the stone planet Koryyx, remember their foul breath as they had tackled her down; and she could remember Anakin's rage as he tore them off of her and told her to run, because this was _his_ fight, not hers, and he could handle them. She could remember her own shock when she'd seen him jump into the air and _remain_ there, could remember how he swept down and pulled her to the rooftops to escape the hunters. Could remember just how _incredible_ it had been to see him for real, for the first time, as the true Chosen One.

 _"_ _They can't know."_

 _"_ _They can help you, Master. Master Obi-Wan will…"_

 _"_ _He won't understand! He can't!"_

 _"_ _You don't know that…"_

 _"_ _I do! Trust me, I do. Promise me. Promise me, Ahsoka, that you won't tell."_

 _"_ _Master…"_

 _"_ _Please, Ahsoka."_

 _"…_ _I promise."_

"I promise," she repeated to herself now, in a mere whisper, as she slowly made her way over to her bed and sat back down. It wasn't right, for him to hide his true nature out of fear. Fear of the Council, of rejection, or experimentation; of Obi-Wan. The Master would understand – she just knew he would. But Anakin was so sure that if he said anything, revealed anything, that Kenobi would turn up his nose and shove him off to the scientists and hunters. The secret would kill him inside, she knew. He needed some way to release his tension, his barely concealed fear, needed some way to just be _himself_ for a short while…

An idea began to form as she counted days off her fingers. Yes, it was time for their vacation leave, and they could claim the day whenever they wanted as long as they weren't in battle. It was a perfect opportunity, and Ahsoka prepared her request of the Council mentally in her head until she fell asleep.

"Why are you doing this, Ahsoka?"

She looked at him incredulously as soon as the question passed his lips, rolling her eyes. "Why do you _think_ , Skyguy?" she countered as she tied the strap of the jetpack around her waist; borrowing it from one of the clones had been easy enough. Resolute waited all the way in another sector, and it was just her and her Master now, along above the forestry planet she'd chosen for their day-long retreat. "You need this, Master," she said in a softer, more serious tone. "Now especially."

"Part of keeping the secret is not trying to fix it all the time, Snips," Anakin said, frowning as he crossed his arms. "This is a bad idea. Like, _really_ bad idea. Let's just go back."

"I just used up our leave time for this, Master. Let's not waste it. Sides, when have _you_ ever been a pessimist."

"All my life, actually, I'm just really good at hiding it," he answered dryly, bowing his head.

She shot him a short sympathetic glance before clearing her throat and turning around. "Go ahead," she said, closing her eyes. "Change."

She could feel his confused gaze. "I'm… ya don't have to turn away, you know. It's not like I have to get _naked_ to get them out."

Her ears burned a bit at that. "I know. But I figured your still not very used to people looking at them, so…"

"Oh. Okay."

There was no big flash of light or wild wind; all those effects she'd thought she'd witnessed last time must've been from the battle, not from Anakin himself. This time, there was only a barely audible rustling noise, and little pulses of anxiety and masked worry from her Master's force signature before she felt she could turn around again.

Now that she actually had time to observe them closely, she found them _magnificent_. The feather-like material was semi-transparent, clouded over with varying shades of black and white and gray. There were just the tiniest hints of more colorful shades mingling in as well, and she found herself grinning as Anakin refused to look up from the ground.

"They're awesome," she said sincerely, making him look up and smirk a bit. Good. "C'mon, Skyguy. Let's do this."

She jumped off the cliff first, activating her pack and soaring immediately high up into the air. She sensed him hesitate at first, and then come after her, using the Force to steady himself as he used the wings he'd never been _allowed_ to use before. She sensed him falter and dove down to grab his arms before he could cascade down to the tree-laden ground. "You've never done this before, have you?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Once, I think, back on Tatooine," he answered. "But I had to stop before someone saw me and found out."

"Well, no one can see you now. Just me," she told him, grinning. "You don't have to worry."

"I'm not worried."

 _Of course not_. At least his stubbornness hadn't been effected in the events of the last few weeks. "Alright then!" She released his hands and let him balance by himself. She went down two more times to keep him from falling; but after that, they glided through the air without stopping.

It really was a pretty planet, she observed, and she signaled for Anakin to start heading over to the waterfall ahead. She began lowering the throttle on the jetpack, but noticed Anakin wasn't slowing down. "Hey Skyguy! Slow down!"

"That'd be awesome!" he tossed back. "Could you tell me _how_?!"

Kriff. She tried calling out a few suggestions, but she'd never even _seen_ a dathomir angel before, and had no idea how their wings worked. Plus, Anakin was only _half_ dathomir, so that knowledge might not have worked anyway. "Hang on!" she called out, and she positioned herself directly in front of her, and braced herself.

They crashed into the waterfall together, the impact shocking them both into temporarily paralysis as they collapsed onto the embankment, wind knocked out of them both.

Anakin was the first to prop himself onto his elbow, grinning. "That was awesome."

"Speak for yourself," Ahsoka grunted in reply, holding her head. "I feel like I just got run over by a bantha. You're lucky you used the Force or we'd _both_ have broken bones; especially you."

"You okay?"

"Yeah… I'm fine." She glanced at him and smirked. "Stop freaking out, Anakin, I'm fine."

"I know."

"When you're worried or anything, your wings get darker," she stated, smiling.

Huh. He hadn't know that.

"And you kinda glow when you're happy," she added. "Like the Iego angels do all the time, I guess."

 _That_ he did know. It was probably the hardest impulse he had to control, besides, of course, not jumping off buildings and flying off into the sky.

Part of his tunic had torn during the landing, and he found himself glancing down at the angry red scars covering his right shoulder. He looked up a few seconds later, and found Ahsoka doing the same. "Don't do that," he said quietly, causing to look up in surprise. "Don't look at me like kind of kicked puppy. I'm not."

"Of course you're not," she replied slowly. "Puppies don't fly."

He knocked her into the small pool of water at the foot of the waterfall for that comment, mostly to just get his mind off the hunters and their cruelty. She dragged him in after her, and for the first time since the war began, they relaxed together.

When they exited the pool, Anakin placed his device back on his neck, which then scattered the mass of his wings around him so that they became nothingness until he turned the device off. Ahsoka watched the process, frowning all the while. It wasn't fair, and she said so. He looked at her, surprised. "What's not fair?"

"You hiding yourself," she said, folding her arms across her breast. "It's not fair to you. You don't _know_ what the other's reaction will be; you don't know how Master _Kenobi_ will react."

This time, instead of annoyance, a flash of anger quickly swept across his face before disappearing. "I told you _no_ ," he said firmly, narrowing his eyes. "You can't tell him, Ahsoka. You _can't_."

She thought he was wrong; she _knew_ he was wrong. She saw how Kenobi treated her Master like a son, like a younger brother. She knew Anakin's fear of rejection from the man was in vain; but she didn't say so. She wouldn't protest, at least not this time. She, instead, slowly nodded her head, and watched as he relaxed. "We should do this more often. A lot, I mean," she proposed, placing her hands on her hips. "It's… _really_ fun."

He grinned at the thought. "Yeah, it is."

"Next time we've got leave? Wanna do it again?"

There was no way he was going to turn down this offer. "Sure, Snips."

She smiled at him, and was pleased to see that the hunters and the scars were the farthest thing from his mind right now.


End file.
